The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 18, 1908. CANADA AND AMERICA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 200, 18 May 1908, Page 6

The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 18, 1908. CANADA AND AMERICA.

\ ■ .— —1> ', ■ _ The prediction by'.the - Nova Scotian judge, reported by cable to-day, that Canada will ultimately become an'':independent State, in alliance with Britain, has- v an interesting pendent in the other message; , which quotes .. tho .'Canadian Sec)eetary for State' as saying : that: if the Union Jack is not flown over English public buildings on Empire Day " the only effect would be that it would be flown still more generally in Canada." If one is to judge from ;<a large number of .independent' statements in- the last two 'or three months, there are a great many people really anxious'' about the future '■ of Canada. Mr. Kipling 1 has, been telling Englishmen that Canada is full of contempt for English ways, and especially for the British Government. Mr.' ICeir Hardie has discovered that. Canada is purely mercenary, and that one never hears men talking of " Canada for tho Empire." Cardinal Logub, if he has not been ' misreporte.d, detects strong evidence of a Canadian desire for independence. And a week or two ago the Governor of Minnesota declared that the time has come for- the absorption of Canada- by the • United States. / In tho meantime it pleases us to think. that Canada is going about it's business' without a thought of disturbingvits' present eonstitutipnal position, either by becoming an independent nation, or by coalescing with the United States. We hear rather less on the whole, nowadays, about the " absorption " 'desired by the Governor of Minnesota. Even Mr. Gold win Smith has ceased his old-time assurances that coalescence between the Dominion and the Republic is inevitable. The causes that have removed-this much-talked-of absorption from the list of probabilities are not far to seek. Canada is no longer- dependent upon the United States for her markets. Her t development has been so < rapid' that the tide of trade has turned, and Americans have not been airaid. or ashamed to agree with a declaration mado by' the New York Post' over a year, ago to the effect that Canada is an adult country and can do without American trade if she desires. If there is any suing to be done in the matter of trade troaties between the two-countries, it is not Canada who will find the role of . suitor necessary. Accompanying this change' in America's attitude , towards her neighbour there has- been an improvement in Anglo-American relations, which .has culminated in an arbitration treaty that knits the two nations together without involving those sacrifices of Canadian interests which have caused so much' heartburning in the past. Mr. Goldwin Smith, ' when "h; first preached his doctrine of an inevitable marriago of Canada with Amorica, had ample excuse for doing so. There was not then in the Dominion any strong "nationalist" spirit, and the 'trade dependence of the Canadians upon their neighbours kept their patriotic aspirations down. Times have changed. Canada has sprung into full strength, and it is difficult to know which has been tho more striking—tho growth of her trade, or tho growth of her: population. In his New Canada, published last year, Mr. Howard Angus Kennedy gives some very striking fig-, ures. In 1890 the total immigration into Canada was 23,895. In 1900 the total immigration was 128,364, and in 1906 it was 215,912. Nor has this great gain been made at the expense of every country but the United. States. From 1899 to tho middle of 1906 there have, arrived from the States no fewer than 261,136 people. Many of these have been returnod Canadians, or tho 'Wwndants o£ earlier expatriates. -

It is said—and it has never been denied by any competent writer, so far as we know—that the newcomers, whether English, European, or American, very quickly, become, as it were, plus ro'jahstc que Ic roi, more Canadian than Canada itself. Mr. Kennedy, in the book which we have quoted, is very optimistic concerning the American settlers. " How arc you going to vote? " one of the newcomers was asked. " I don't care which side," was the reply. " What I want to vote for is to keep them darned ;Yankecs out." The arguments against absorption by America arc, of course, not arguments against the Canadian " independence," which Judge Longi.ey predicted in 'the., specch from which Mr. Bryce dissented so sharply. They are to some extent arguments in favour of it, for it is possible to conceive a' Canadian "nationalism" so strong as'to reject the Imperial tic along with the American connexion. But one must not forget that the present overmastering influence of the Imperial idea has been gained by that idea in its almost larval istate. For all practical purposes, the Imperial idea is still vague ihd formless, Btill in its first stage of (development. No two men understand it, in all its meaning, exactly " alike. ~ That, though so imperfectly understood, it should gain such a hold upon the imaginations of the people of the .Empire is tho best guarantee that when it has ibeoome clear andi distinct and finally settled; with the passing of time it will dominate ( all the forces making 'for separation and disunion.